When HN users recommended it
1 HN user recommended this in 2015, in one comment.
20072026
Each tall tick is one HN user's first recommendation. A short tick is the same user again. Click a tick to jump to the comment.
1 HN user recommended this in 2015, in one comment.
Each tall tick is one HN user's first recommendation. A short tick is the same user again. Click a tick to jump to the comment.
> I haven't checked recently, but I think there now exists a bootable PCIe SSD for 2009 Mac Pros
OWC has such a thing [1].
It's a bit pricey. If you want better than the built-in SATA II, but without such a high price, they also have a PCIe card that provides a SATA III interface for a 2.5" drive that you supply and attach to the card. This card is only $60 [2]. This can be used for the boot drive.
You can also get a nice boost for external drives with a $60 PCIi card that gives you 4 external USB 3.0 ports [3]. They also have similar cards, except that instead of 4 USB 3.0, they give you 2 USB 3.0 ports and 2 eSATA III ports.
I don't think any of the USB 3.0 cards from OWC are bootable. There are bootable USB 3.0 cards available from other places [4]. The key is to get one that uses the same USB 3.0 chipset that Apple uses in later Mac Pros that had USB 3.0. From what I've read, it appears to be the Fresco Logic FL1100.
My main work machine is a 2008 8-core Mac Pro, with 18 GB of RAM and an SSD. I wish it had more RAM, but other than that it should be fine for a few more years unless the hardware break.
My main home machine is a 2009 4-core Mac Pro, with 32 GB of RAM, and SSDs for both main drive and Time Machine, and an external 1 TB mSATA SSD in a cute little case [5] for a weekly offline backup. This machine should be fine for a few more years unless the hardware breaks, especially if I toss in one of those USB 3.0 cards mentioned above, and maybe that SATA III card for the boot drive.
I wish I had more RAM in the work machine, but I messed the window on that. That's one thing to watch out for when using a machine long term. The price for a given RAM technology tends to start off high and then drop and stay low for a while...and then it tends to rise again as production is cut. Due to this, it often makes sense not to max out a machine when it is still fairly new--just get what you reasonably need. Then add RAM when the price drops. Usually at some point the price is low enough that it is cheap to max it out.
With my work Mac Pro I waited too long. I upped the RAM in that and the home Mac Pro at the same time, and it turned out taking the home one from something like 12 GB to 32 GB cost considerably less than taking the work one from around 8 GB to 18 GB!
[1] https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/PCIe/OWC/Mercury_Accelsi...
[2] https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/PCIe/OWC/Mercury-Accelsi...
[3] http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sonnet%20Technologies/USB34PM...
[4] ...maybe. The web is not entirely consistent as to whether or not this is actually true. Also, check OS compatibility. Some of these are not compatible with Yosemite!
[5] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LRZPNHM?psc=1&redirect=t...